"Out of the darkness the zombie did call,
True pain and suffering he brought to them all,
Away were the children to hide in their beds,
For fear that the Devil would chop off their heads"


*Time meant nothing anymore. For everything took time, and time took an infinity to run out.

Something happened to the man that the galaxy once knew as Snack. Something that even Snack himself had a hard time to explain. It all started on Naboo, where he was leading an attack on the Jedi. He got blind-sided by something alien, knocking him off balance and into a thicket of shrubs. The thing was invisible, and the moment in came into contact with Snack, it rendered him invisible as well. Perhaps it was some Force magic, or something to do with the Force. Whatever it was, the Sith never had experienced anything like it before.

In the shadows it kept him: taunting, toying, and even teaching him some new tricks. Why this essence was doing this to him, Snack had no idea. And almost as randomly as it had selected the Elder Lord, it dropped him off, back on Naboo.

On a different part of the planet. One that was not populated. How much time had pasted? Weeks? Months? Years? It felt like an eternity, being trapped in that dream world with the shadow at his back and in his mind. It was almost like looking with new eyes upon the new surroundings of Naboo. At first they strained and caused pain as they adjusted to the light. But that passed.

Through the Force, there were no signs of conflict on Naboo. No war being raged -- nothing. How much time had passed?

When his eyes could focus once more, he searched around. Nothing looked familiar. But he was. He remained the same person he did before this incident. At least he thought so.

He tried to walk, but found that his legs were weak. So he decided to sit down in the grassy field. Someone had to be out there that he use to know. Reaching out with the Force, Snack stretched across the galaxy....

And found Zeta's presence.*

Zeta.... I've returned... search me out.... My Apprentice.

Naboo

He despised the soil he stood upon, the whole planet to be precise. Too many things had happened upon the land, too many things left forgotten. Too many memories that he was left hanging onto... and he remembered them all because time would not let him forget.

He seemed to be the only one who remembered, still stuck in a flashback of time.

Distorted matter.

So much had changed, too much, leaving nothing to stay the same.

He could never get away from Naboo. His past... His present... It was all here.

It stuck to him like glue. No matter how hard he tried to leave it all behind, it still attached itself to him.... Time.

So why, if he despised it here so much, why was he back here again?

Only the force knew why.

The dark energy stayed with him for many days, the closer to Naboo he came, the stronger the energy became.

He kept moving... walking. He kept walking until he felt like his feet could carry him along no more, yet still he moved.

No food. No water. No rest. Only the force.

Thinking that he would wander for eternity, the energy connected with him, speaking to him, making him realize just how he'd been guided.

Zeta.... I've returned... search me out.... My Apprentice.

As you wish... Snack.

The taste of bitterness swept across the apprentice's mind.

His mentor gone without warning. His presence lost... How long had it been now?? He did not know.

He no longer knew the word Master. He'd forgotten.

Still... he obeyed.

************************

He came upon a grassy field, his master feebly trying to stand upon his own two feet.

He did nothing but watch the elder in his plight.

"As you wish... Snack"

*No Master. No Lord. Only his name. Hatred filled Zeta's entire being. Hatred for him.

Snack tried standing once more. He got to his feet and took a step, but fell to his knees almost instantly. His face portrayed the image of the helpless man, reaching out for that last ounce of hope and luck the world seemed to never want to part with. He glanced down at his own hands, saw them tremble and shake. Was he aging, or was this an after-effect of what he had gone through?

Looking up again, he saw the tall Zabrak. His one time Apprentice, Zeta, stood there, looking on him with disgust. Or so Snack thought it was. It should have been.

Once the most powerful force user in the galaxy humbled down to being barely able to walk.

Pathetic. Perhaps it was a bad idea to call Zeta here, now. To see the Elder Lord in this type of state would crush his dynasty, his reputation.*


......


*Snack tried to speak, but when he opened his mouth, words could not be uttered. He had no strength to say even the slightest of whispers.

He wanted to tell the man he was sorry for seemingly abandoning him, leaving him to fend for the entirety of the Naboo Sith. No doubt Zeta had hated that. The Zabrak, Snack knew, disliked leading anything. He wished not for power, only the Dark Side. Much like Snack use to be.

Will you not help an old comrade up? asked Snack via Force. Even that sounded weak and frail. The man was but in his thirties, but it felt as if he were in his eighties.

Hopefully time would heal that, or else time wasn't as endless as he once thought.*

Scorn moved onto the Zabrak's face as he greeted his Master's reply with a fierce snarl.

He failed to control his anger for a time, as the beginning stages of lightning moved into his fingertips, purple sparks of energy danced across his fingertips.

He closed his eyes, in an attempt to block out the fragile being that kneeled before him.

So defenseless the elder Sith Elder was, and oh so tempting it was for the Zabrak to strike him.

... But his respect for the man that had molded and mentored him overpowered his resentment.

He opened his eyes, the sparks of energy gone from his hands; the look upon his face did not leave him.

"A comrade??"

The Zabrak could not help but chuckle at the Elder Lord's response.

"I have no comrades..."

He paused, his gaze meeting Snack's.

"... and for several months I have had no master..."

There was more on the Zabrak's mind, but he failed to express any of his thoughts to Snack. In time, he would learn everything that Zeta knew.

He would learn just who had betrayed him and who had failed him.

... Who had remained loyal and who had not...

"... I will give you my hand to lift you up, my master, but do not take it if you do not think that your ethos can correct what was lost while you were away..."

.... And so, as Zeta said he would, he reached out with his hand to help the other Sith up, a large commitment placed in the palm of his hand.

What would the Elder Lord choose to do?

"... I will give you my hand to lift you up, my master, but do not take it if you do not think that your ethos can correct what was lost while you were away..."


*Zeta reached his hand out to the frail Sith. Snack looked up at him with glossy eyes, running that statement through his mind. What exactly did he mean by that? Did Zeta really think that Snack could change things back to the way they were in his state, or was it more of a challenge, or a threat? A threat that if he did take that hand and couldn't change anything, that a more humiliating fate awaited him?

And what was there to change?

Slowly, Snack reached up and grasped the hand of Zeta. The Zabrak pulled his one time Master up until the Sith was on his two feet, wobbly. Snack clutched onto Zeta's shoulder to help stabilize himself, and as he did so, caught the glimpse of pure hate and anger in Zeta's eyes.

The man had grown quite powerful in his absence. Snack held back the power in Zeta for far too long....

Youth began to come back into the body and mind of Snack, albeit slowly. He felt strength in his once weak legs, but he feared to stand on his own. Still leaning on the Zabrak, Snack coughed. His voice came back to him, scratchy as it was.*

What had happened..... was for... *cough* the best.... I will not apologize, for I shouldn't... have to...

*Little by little, the after-effects of the other-worldly experience were wearing thin. Strength was returning, but it would take a couple days to weeks to return to his prime form.*

What is there... to change?

So it was done.

The Elder Lord had grasped his hand, but he'd earned more than just a lift onto his own two feet.

The Lord withdrew his anger and hate, hate and anger that stemmed from and toward many different directions....

...For the betrayal of not one being, but of two... perhaps more.

... For the failures... his own... For the loss of direction...

... So many things, and Snack was oblivious to it all.

Zeta looked past his Master and off into the distance, remembrance in his eyes.

"... There was a time when The Naboo Sith Order lined the galaxy. A force like no other came to be, leaving an imprint on all that crossed its path."

He paused, his gaze meeting Snack's yet again, where anger and hate should have been, there was nothing.

"... That time is no more. A new order has settled in Naboo's place."

The Zabrak shook his head, bemused with the news that he was about to impress onto Snack.

"... Allow me to enlighten you.. The Dark Circle is the order I speak of, formed by a band of many a Sith now, created at first by two, one named Sedriss Sadow, the other named Malice Draclau."

The Zabrak did not hold back the sinister grin that subtly formed across his lips.

"... And Dark Lord Maim, has become the former Dark Lord of the Sith, Sadow rising to take his place."

The hate and anger quickly flooded through Zeta's veins, his lips twitching in a stubborn attempt to hold back his retaliation.

"... I resigned from my leadership.. I left.. Long before this new order came to be. I made sure that someone was left in my place... Lupercus... Malice as you know, the other half of the leadership. He too left, though without word. Eventually the order dwindled in number. Lupercus, Perrin, Chikami, Amanda... they still remain... ever so often a new face greeting the order, but most fail to stay.

I still find myself returning to the place that once lined the galaxy, my loyalty failing to expire. I was offered power from another, but that too failed to reach me. Nothing reaches me anymore... except for perhaps my fascination for the Darkside."

The Zabrak had little to reach for anymore.

"..Nothing needs changed, master, nothing," he said dryly.